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Firmenich inaugurates a new pilot plant and laboratory in Geneva

Agri-food

7 October 2020

Firmenich, the world’s largest privately-owned Perfume and Taste company, has announced the opening of its new biotechnology and naturals pilot plant and laboratory in Geneva. Benefiting from the latest digital technology, the facility opens a new era for the development of ingredients and clean label solutions by providing faster speed-to-market and greater flexibility for customer […]

Firmenich, the world’s largest privately-owned Perfume and Taste company, has announced the opening of its new biotechnology and naturals pilot plant and laboratory in Geneva.

Benefiting from the latest digital technology, the facility opens a new era for the development of ingredients and clean label solutions by providing faster speed-to-market and greater flexibility for customer collaboration. Integrated into Firmenich’s flagship ingredients production site in Geneva, the facility operates to the highest safety and environmental standards, reducing waste and energy consumption.

“With our new biotechnology pilot plant closely connected to the ingredients production site, Firmenich provides integrated biotech development all the way down to the finished product, without any gaps,” says Genevieve Berger, Chief Research Officer at Firmenich. “Opening a new era of ingredients creation, our pilot plant and laboratory harnesses new technologies to improve clean label solutions, while the latest digital innovations maximize efficiency.”

Digital transformation at the service of sustainability and flavor

This new pilot plant aims to enable the development of the most efficient and high-quality production processes through biotechnology or natural extraction. Harnessing digital technology for increased automation, the pilot plant is able to move from single to continuous batch process, increasing efficiency, speed and reducing the use of raw materials.

This is yet another key milestone towards the company’s digital transformation, which, just earlier this month, created the world’s first AI flavor in collaboration with Microsoft, resulting in a lightly grilled beef taste for use in plant-based meat alternatives.